When 2 weeks becomes a year: COVID in their own words

The Review-Journal asked Nevadans to share stories of their pandemic year. Here is a selection of their reflections, in their own words. Minimal editing has been applied.

A struggle, but still one of the lucky ones

In October 2019, my mother, who lived with me, had a heart attack. After consulting with her doctors, I was told that she would need around-the-clock assistance with her everyday needs. It was decided that she would go into assisted living. I did not like this choice, but as I worked long hours and was not home most of the time, I wanted her safe. I felt better about it because I would go and visit her to make sure she was being taken care and was happy.

Then came Covid. Mid-March I went for my normal Saturday visit and was met at the door by a sign saying no visiting allowed. From then on I could only drop off supplies for her at the door and inquire how she was doing. I never got to see her or touch her or tell her I loved her while this was happening.

Then came late May when I got a phone call saying she was in the ER. She was there for severe dehydration and didn’t recognize me. I don’t know what happened in the two months I wasn’t able to see her. She was in the hospital for a week before she passed away. She wasn’t positive for Covid though.

Luckily the hospital had just started letting one person visit per patient, so I was able to see her and touch her and let her know I loved her. Every day I went, I told her over and over again how much I loved her. I don’t think if I hadn’t been allowed to visit her I would’ve survived. I’ve read so many stories about people who are not able to be there when their loved ones died in the hospital because of Covid and my heart ached for them.

As all this was going on, I also lost my job. I spent the past few months on the brink suffering from severe depression with no help because I had no health insurance. It’s only in the last couple of months that finally I felt some kind of hope, that maybe I would come thru this.

I realize that I was one of the lucky ones in spite of all that went on because I was able to talk and touch my mother and let her know how much I loved her before she passed. I also got social security disability so I didn’t have to worry about losing my house and not having anywhere to live. I still struggle though…

Bernadette Rollins

One of the best years of my life

This has been one of the best years of my life, mostly because it was the first full year I’ve lived in Las Vegas. Thanks to the pandemic and being in “lockdown,” I learned so many things, including how to use Instacart to let others do my shopping; how to use Zoom to take art classes, attend conferences, learn how to play the piano; teach myself how to cook healthy meals and, in the process, lose 30 pounds! Viva Las Vegas!

Teri Thompson

Lockdown anniversary

Exactly one year ago, we shut down the very last convention of 2020 in Las Vegas on March 12, 2020.

I have not addressed this in such detail in a prior post. I waited, hoping it wouldn’t be a year.

I will never forget the vibe of the room that day. Within 6 hours, we personally had over 60 events cancel, with over a hundred more within the following weeks. The attendees left early to rush home to try to control the damage and brace for their uncertain futures. We still put on the best show possible with a smile for whomever would listen. Afterwards, everyone knew it would be a long while before we could do it again. We were all told “two weeks”. We flew back to Florida that night, and basically waited. And waited. And waited. For those not in the touring and events industry, you need to know it has been a full year and we are STILL WAITING.

A handful of shows have returned, but I just had several summer shows cancel again after being rescheduled from last summer. There have been no major conventions in Orlando, either. Weddings are small and sparse. There are no opportunities to perform with touring acts because there aren’t any.

I watched my show income go to zero. Almost all my business canceled for a full year. The small rations of government loans and grants have helped some businesses impacted, but it’s not enough to keep going for many. They completely forgot about the freelance musicians and entertainers, as well as the tech crews, theater crews, stagehands, convention planners/staff/AV and everyone you don’t see who makes a show actually happen. We still have bills to pay: rent for office and large equipment and costume storage, insurance for everything, vehicle maintenance, utilities, etc. We were told to wait, forbidden from doing our jobs, and then left out in the cold for a full year now, with no solid foreseeable end in sight.

We are still waiting.

Once the vaccines are finally available to all, borders will open again. Travel will resume. Shows will come back. Every single person with whom I’ve spoken says they are exhausted of virtual meetings because so much is LOST in the limited communication. People sense vibes and energy, and watch for non-verbal cues. It’s how we learn to trust each other. In the entertainment world, we learn from the “hang” if we really want to continue working with people. In the corporate world, it’s usually on the golf course or sharing a meal/beverage between the formal meetings. In both scenarios, real connections are not made across a conference table or on stage. Real connections are made from real in-person interactions with people.

Until we meet again…we wait. We pivot. We work on passion projects and side jobs. Some have completely changed their careers to non-entertainment ones with no plans to go back. In the words of one producer, “It’s too hard to see your life’s work and all of your life savings invested in your dream company with dozens of employees destroyed overnight. I had to let the employees go because I couldn’t afford to pay them. I let them down, and I don’t want to go through that again.”

That’s a toll not mentioned enough: the mental toll on the employers. Most small business owners don’t think of the employees as just workers; they are much closer. Many business owners that I know have sacrificed and given from their personal savings/pantry/closet to help their employees and families.

And we wait with the hope we can restart again soon. In Violectric, we rehearse and learn new skills. We use the time to create and make new instruments with new technologies. We foster relationships with other artists and collaborate on new music. We use the resources and tools available to us to develop new ideas.

For us, we are like the Phoenix emerging from the flames. We will be back soon, stronger and better than ever.

Until then, we wait.

Michelle Jones

Deeply saddened, loss of wife

My wife of 22 years, Laurie, died due to Covid-19 on Jan. 19. I and my 21-year-old autistic son, Jeffrey, are now alone. My wife taught for CCSD for 31 years. She came here from Richfield, Utah in 1990. I am deeply saddened by her passing. My son doesn’t understand her passing. He still looks for her. It breaks my heart. My wife spent her last years teaching Intermediate Autism at Lee Antonello Elementary School. Teaching was a profession she truly loved.

Brian Danise

Ailing art industry

Early March 2020, I drove to Scottsdale, Arizona to participate in one of the premiere art festivals in the Southwest. The order to shut down came the day of setting up, some artists already had their tents up. Soon my entire art festival schedule, 5 in total, was cancelled for the year. I sell online and at art festivals, but the bulk of my income comes from festivals. In addition to the lost income and loss of investment in inventory, refunds for entry fees came much later, if at all, and travel expenses were lost. Today, I study the festival scene daily and still my major events are being cancelled into September 2021. Non-profits and other art promoters either have gone out of business or are staying off the gamble of organizing and promoting events. Large events will be the last to come back and even so, will the thousands of art lovers show up? Will anyone buy anything so not necessary in 2021? Looking to 2022 for any hopes of recovery. Happy to be healthy but the entire art festival industry will ail for years to come.

Maria Arango Diener

Anxiety

Depression and anxiety. Not motivated. Be sweet when all vaccinations are finished.

Phyllis Hedges

Changed my life, and future

As a 75-year-old widow, I was fortunate enough to plan extensive travel in 2020. Then Covid-19 hit and I had to cancel seven trips, including a month traveling around Europe. I have not been kind to myself because I have not been exercising and I have gained the dreaded Covid 10 pounds. I am not sure I will be physically able to travel ever again. I am depressed, isolated in my home, and feel unable to get on my feet. I am grateful to have a home and to not be severely impacted financially by the pandemic, but it has changed my life and my future.

Georgia Johnson, 75

Lost my brother

Lost my brother to COVID-19 on January 21st of 2021 - former District Court Judge Don P. Chairez, who was serving as a Nye County Deputy DA the past two years before he passed. Prior to taking the position with the DA’s office in Nye, Don worked as a private practice lawyer mainly taking immigration cases. Don was a great trial lawyer but he was also a great immigration attorney. Don was different than most in the sense he would help those that couldn’t afford the guy with the billboards all over town. In the two years I was back in Vegas and watched Don’s private practice, I saw him maybe take a case at full fee just once, hell, I could even name that case. Don would offer to meet clients on the weekends or after work because that’s when they could meet. The funny thing is that Don’s mom was a immigration worker for Catholic Social Services in Sacramento where Don had his first practice. She, too, would often drive all over Northern California to the farms and have the workers fill out paperwork to get the green card. Maybe that is where Don got that - from was his mother working on weekends to help those that couldn’t afford it. As one attorney put it, “Thank you for using your talents to help the people most in need.” That person is the person we lost on 01/21/21.

Dennis F. Chairez

A living hell

You really wanna know my story ? Is been a living HELL, yes I do mean that, yes. I am now 52 and I’ve been homeless growing up, but about six years ago found a good job at Sundance Helicopters. [I ] finally had a nice place to stay and brought new truck and a new rv so I could go camping on my days off and even got an ATV ( side by side ) then this stupid Covid come. Sundance shut down and I was behind on my rent so now I live in my car and no food and plus I have a disability (deaf) so I need new hearing aids and my teeth are killing me. No insurance, no job, no nothing is hard, very hard. I finally did get a Medicaid card, but I don’t know how much that will help. But yes, this pandemic has turn my life upside down again and my father-in-law passed a few days ago back in PA from Covid. It sucks, but I see a lot of people don’t take it seriously. Oh well, enough about me. God bless the USA.

John Linnell

Father never forgotten

This is a real, raw, emotional story, and feelings that I am still dealing with to this day with the loss of a parent.

On February 22, 2020 my firstborn daughter Mavis was born. She’s beautiful, incredible, more than we’ve ever asked for. Everyone got the chance to meet and hold her, except for my dad. He promised me that he would fly out from Florida to see her for her first birthday. Unfortunately, he did not make the trip.

Leading up to this, my entire workplace was put on a furlough in March when the initial shutdowns happened. We were out of work for 7 months. It was an incredibly difficult time for my work family, and Nevadans as a whole. For myself it was bittersweet, I got the chance to spend so much precious time with my daughter at home, while my wife Jessie came back from maternity leave early, to get back to work as a nurse, helping those in need. Jessie is an incredible nurse, mother, and wife, and sacrificed so much to help those in need. She is my hero, and gives me so much inspiration.

Fast forward to my daughter’s first birthday. The Sunday before, my father was supposed to fly out. Unfortunately he became very sick, and I asked him to please stay home and recover. He kept telling me that he felt like he was going to die. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t move. He could barely breathe. He did however, shed tears as he was really looking forward to his trip here. His wife brought him to his doctor who tested him, and he was given a severe COVID diagnosis, and was sent home with medication on Monday. That night, he was video chatting with us, asking for help on how to use his medication. He looked terrible, a shell of himself, but we told each other how much we loved each other, and that I promised I would take Mavis to see him when he got better.

My father passed away in his sleep the next morning. His wife video called me, and we saw everything. We witnessed them stripping him down, starting compressions, using the AED to get a pulse, strapping him to a machine that did compressions. We knew. After 20 minutes, they pronounced him dead. Seeing their efforts to revive my father, is a painful sight I will forever live with. However I know now that he is no longer suffering. I live with so much guilt, shame, and second thoughts. Should I have let him fly over despite having COVID? Am I a horrible son and person? I just know that I love and miss him so much, and I would give anything to be able to hear his voice again.

His name was Tho. Tho Van Do. He is survived by his wife Hoang, myself, and his granddaughter Mavis Ryann Do, who will forever know him as an amazing man, father, and provider. Real death happens when the person’s name and legacy is forgotten. Dad, I will never let you be forgotten. I will remember and love you, always. I miss and cry for you every day. I hope that you are playing with my late sister Sunshine, and are looking down on us.

Thank you for letting me get this off of my mind, heart, and soul, LVRJ.

Choung Do

Caring landlord

I consider myself Las Vegas/Henderson’s most caring landlord. When reading about this horrible virus in China I just knew there would be a pandemic. In January, I got a home equity line of credit on a home I own so I could cut my tenant’s rents in half so they could survive the pandemic. Even so, one agreed, signed a loan document, and then chose not to pay me even though five adults in the home got pandemic aid and the father kept working. I could now evict. They left when their lease was up, but they owe me $31,000. I have filed a suit in Henderson Municipal Court but they are ducking service from the constable. As they say in the “Godfather,” “No good deed goes unpunished.”

Beth Ellyn Rosenthal

Mental strain

Regarding my physical health - Covid has not made a difference at all. However regarding the mental and social wellbeing of my family – while the effects could have been worse – there definitely has been an effect.

I have five children that attend three different CCSD schools. The biggest effect will be seen for years as the last year plus of school has been close to a complete waste of time. My 2nd and 4th graders should probably repeat their grade levels. My 8th grader will be repeating algebra because the concepts haven’t been fully grasped. My 10th grader who has never gotten anything other than an “A” on her report card is struggling to maintain the same level of academics and her love for school is waning. My 12th grader saw the future of the governor’s decision to ruin her senior year and decided to take college classes online concurrent with her other class load and she graduated early. Not sure how you measure the effects of a wasted year right now. Time will tell how things go.

The other effect is in the social arena. We went from having activities every night with sports, church activities, friends hanging out to almost a screeching halt. This led to some great family time. However as time wore on, the negative side of the isolation started to rear it’s ugly face. My children were becoming depressed as they missed the social interaction. My fear is that the unintended consequences of saving kids from a virus that would have a minimal to non-existent effect on them will potentially turn them into a generation with much worse problems than a positive covid test.

As we saw this effect on our children, we also knew that other people had the same issue. So we made the calculated decision to open up our house to anyone and everyone that wanted to come over. My elementary school children will have friends come over from school and they participate in virtual learning together. While the “learning” part of it is inadequate - at least they are gaining from the social interaction between friends. Our home is a frequent meeting spot with my teenagers so that they can laugh together and meet up. Is there a risk that we are creating a “covid hot-spot”? I suppose, but when my daughter tells me of her classmates that have overdosed with drugs, I’m less concerned about spreading covid and more concerned about helping the youth feel loved and help them get through this with a smile on their face.

From day one, I have said that we went about this problem the wrong way. As a community, we should have rallied around those that are most vulnerable and susceptible. Rather that shutting down the entire economy, we should have provided free grocery & and medicine delivery to the aged and infirm. Those that have the various risk factors could have been served by their community rather than isolating all of us.

So how I have been impacted by Covid? I have kids that are more depressed. And a government that thinks they are my protector when in actuality they are stabbing me in the back with a smile on their face and telling me that my kids are resilient.

Josh Haldeman

Missing grandfather

My grandfather, Joselito T. Vitug, came to United States all alone to build a better life for his family in the Philippines. He eventually became successful in his business endeavors and was able to bring my grandma, dad, and aunt to the United States, where they settled in Glendale Heights, Illinois. Soon after, my grandpa sponsored his parents and siblings to come to the United States and one by one they came. My grandpa literally planted the seeds for the entire Vitug family in the United States. He was known as the godfather of the Vitug family. He eventually moved to Henderson, Nevada with my grandma to start new business endeavors. He always made time to check in with his four grandsons, me being one of them. He always wanted to the very best for his family. He died on May 6, 2020 after being on a ventilator for about a month. We miss him dearly. He was flown back to his home in Chicago where he’s laid to rest next to his brother and parents.

Ryne Vitug